An Exploration of Gouache

I have used acrylic paint the majority of my life and then one day in 2023 I picked up a set of gouache and never looked back. The interaction of gouache with water is hypnotic, it bleeds and blends, continuously shaping itself, you can only control it so much. It’s in a dance with water and you are just a mere witness, a chaperone, a starry eyed fan in the audience. At first it was frustrating the way I would fall in love with a perfect swirl or the separation of a droplet from one color into the next then watch it inevitably disappear into something else as it dried. However, working with it has provided such wonderful lessons of presence, appreciation, and letting go. I realized the process is the tender point for me, the therapeutic playful ride it provides is what I am really seeking, the outcome of the final piece I have little connection to at all anymore. If I end up liking what comes out it just feels like an extra bonus treat or a lovely surprise.

I have heard it said in many ways you can tell almost everything about a person by looking at their art, and I do feel my pieces of gouache portray what I imagine to be the galaxy of my mental space. A solo canoe ride through shapeshifting hues and auras…like the feeling of making binoculars with your hands and looking up at the night sky. An immediate unification between you and the entire universe.